FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 19, 2024
CONTACT: Virginia Lucy, media@napawf.org

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF) is marking the 51st anniversary of Roe v. Wade by issuing a critical reminder of the detrimental and disproportionate impact anti-abortion attacks have on people of color, including immigrants and Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) women.

The Supreme Court’s historic decision establishing a constitutional right to abortion was overturned by the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in 2022. Since then, many states have passed abortion bans or enforced existing bans, denying crucial care and inflicting harm on pregnant people across the country. 

Sung Yeon Choimorrow, Executive Director of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF) released the following statement: 

“We are facing an abortion access crisis in our country. And the barriers to abortion care disproportionately impact people of color, people with low incomes, and immigrants. This is also a direct assault on Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities. 

AAPI women have been overlooked in the fight for reproductive freedom, despite 85 percent of AAPI women believing women should have the right to make their own reproductive choices and one-third of AAPI pregnancies ending in abortion.

For AAPI communities, the path to abortion is fraught with barriers, cultural stigmas, and low rates of insurance coverage. The myth that Asian Americans are the “model minority” – high achieving immigrants with economic stability – masks our reproductive health care needs. 

NAPAWF will not stand silent. We will continue to organize, speak out, and push back against targeted efforts aimed at scaling back our reproductive rights. 

The anniversary of Roe v. Wade is a call to action – to mobilize and build a world where everyone has access to abortion and the reproductive health care that they need and want.”

# # #

The National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF) is the only multi-issue, progressive, community organizing and policy advocacy organization for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) women and girls in the U.S. NAPAWF’s mission is to build collective power so that all AAPI women and girls can have full agency over our lives, our families, and our communities.